Somalia: Reports indicate American jihadi killed

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — A rapping jihadi from Alabama who ascended the ranks of Somalia's al-Qaida-linked militant group and was on the FBI's Most Wanted list with a $5 million reward for his capture was killed Thursday in an ambush ordered by the militant group's leader, militants said.

Omar Hammami, a native of Daphne, Alabama, who was known as Abu Mansoor Al-Amriki, or "the American," died in southern Somalia following several months on the run after a falling-out with al-Shabab's top leader, the militants said.

Reports of Hammami's death crop up every few months in Somalia, only for him to resurface a short while later. But a U.S. terrorism expert who closely follows the inner workings of al-Shabab says he thinks that the current reports of the death are accurate.

"I think it's very likely true based on the sources I am seeing," said J.M. Berger, who runs the website Intelwire.com.

Militants did not immediately present proof of Hammami's death.

A member of al-Shabab who gave his name as Sheik Abu Mohammed told The Associated Press that Hammami was killed in an ambush in Somalia's southern Bay region. Some of Mohammed's associates carried out the killing, he said.

Along with Adam Gadahn in Pakistan — a former Osama bin Laden spokesman — Hammami is one of the two most notorious Americans in jihad groups. He grew up in Daphne, a community of 20,000 outside Mobile, the son of a Christian mother and a Syrian-born Muslim father.

His YouTube videos that featured him rapping and his presence on Twitter made him one of the most recognizable and studied U.S. foreign fighters. The U.S. put Hammami on its Most Wanted terrorist list in March and offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture.

U.S. prosecutors had charged Hammami with providing material support to terrorists.

Hammami moved from Alabama to Somalia and joined al-Shabab in about 2006. He fought alongside al-Shabab for years until they had a falling out amid signs of increasing tension between Somali and foreign fighters in the group. He first expressed fear for his life in a web video in March 2012 that publicized his rift with al-Shabab.

The first serious attempt on his life was made in April.

"Just been shot in neck by shabab assassin. not critical yet," Hammami tweeted after the April attack. He later wrote on Twitter that the leader of al-Shabab was sending in forces from multiple directions. "we are few but we might get back up. abu zubayr has gone mad. he's starting a civil war," Hammami posted.

Hammami accused al-Shabab's leaders of living extravagant lifestyles with the taxes fighters collect from Somali residents. Another Hammami grievance is that the Somali militant leaders sideline foreign militants inside al-Shabab and are concerned only about fighting in Somalia, not globally.

The leader of al-Shabab, Mukhtar Abu Zubeyr, is also known as Godane.

Berger said that Hammami has been "a thorn in the side of al-Shabab" for more than two years and "one of the few surviving dissenters after Godane's bloody purge over the summer."

Militants in Somalia have long hosted foreign fighters in the country. U.S. officials say that al-Shabab, which has been around since about 2006, counts several hundred foreign fighters among its ranks, including several dozen Somali-Americans from Minnesota.

Al-Shabab and al-Qaida announced formal merger in February 2012, but the Somali militant group maintained a reputation as being hostile to foreign fighters.

"Hammami brought a lot of unwelcome outside scrutiny on Shabab from the international jihadist community. His story will likely be a case study on what can go wrong when Westerners join jihadist movements," Berger said.